Hawthorn Cottage Pasture

Also within

Northumberland County

Condition (Natural England)

Description

Area, 1.0 ha. 2.5 ac. Description hawthorn Cottage Pasture comprises an unimproved neutral grassland in an area of former ridge and furrow cultivation. It is a valuable example of a habitat which is now scarce in Northumberland and the surviving sites are under increasing threat from further agricultural intensification and urban development. The site includes both an area of dry grassland currently managed as pasture and an adjacent area of marshy grassland. The grassland plant communities represented here are characteristic of neutral grasslands in North East England and show a typical pattern of variation in species composition related to the micro topography of the site. Well drained areas, including the ridges of the ridge and furrow, support fine leaved grasses such as red fescue Festuca rubra, yellow oat grass Trisetum flavescens and quaking grass Briza media, whilst the furrows typically contain a coarser turf of common bent Agrostis capillaris, creeping bent Agrostis stolonifera, crested dog’s tail Cynosurus cristatus, and, more rarely, heath grass Danthonia decumbens. The accompanying herb flora is rich and includes the locally rare pepper saxifrage Silaum silaus and dyer’s greenweed Genista tinctoria, with sneeze wort Achillea ptarmica, tormentil Potentilla erecta, devil’s bit scabious Succisa pratensis, yellow rattle Rhinanthus minor, red bartsia Odontites verna and common knapweed Centaurea nigra. The dry ridges also support spring sedge Carex caryophyllea, autumn hawkbit Scorzoneroides autumnalis and meadow buttercup Ranunculus acris, whilst carnation sedge Carex panicea is found along wet seepage lines. An area of coarse marshy grassland at the northern end of the site is dominated by tufted hair grass Deschampsia cespitosa, Yorkshire fog Holcus lanatus, creeping bent and soft rush Juncus effusus with pepper saxifrage, common sedge Carex nigra and oval sedge Carex leporina.

Species mentioned